Working parents disadvantaged in jobs market

Furthermore, 64% of those voicing their concerns were women, indicating that female job-hunters are feeling particularly hindered when seeking new employment. Ahead of Working Parents Day, which takes place on 16th September, the job site conducted research amongst over 2000 UK professionals to ascertain attitudes around maintaining a career alongside having a family. Findings show that although the majority of employees feel positive about having both a family and a career, there is a real issue within the jobs market, with parents seeking new employment feeling the most discriminated against:

• Over a quarter (26.4%) of working-parents believe they were not offered a job because they have children

• Around 1 in 4 job-hunters (22.4%) admit to being asked during an interview whether they plan to have children

o 60.9% were female

• 77.5% of workers don’t see it as beneficial to have a strong professional foundation before having children

Furthermore, there appears to be a disconnect between businesses wanting to employ working parents and looking after the ones they already have. Figures indicate that businesses recognise their responsibility to provide care for their current employees with families, and parents already in employment are happy with support offered by their employer:

• 60.7% of working-parents don’t feel that having children impacts on their career prospects - 19.5% of working parents actually think that having children has a positive impact on their career

• 61.8% of UK professionals think businesses already do enough to accommodate working-parents – this figure actually increases amongst working parents, with 63.3% believing that their employer does plenty to support their needs

• The employees most likely to believe that children will have a negative effect on their careers are actually those that are planning on having a family (36.7%)

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, commented, “While it is disappointing to see that there are still people who feel that having a family is holding them back in their job search, the general sentiment that you can have a family and a career is very encouraging. We are seeing a shift in attitudes, and with businesses providing support for employees with families, hopefully ideas will continue to progress in the recruitment sector until employees no longer feel that they are being passed over for job opportunities. ”